As we work to bring even more value to our audience, we’ve made important changes for those who receive Ad Age with our compliments. As of November 15, 2016 we will no longer be offering full digital access to AdAge.com. However, we will continue to send you our industry-leading print issues focused on providing you with what you need to know to succeed.

If you’d like to continue your unlimited access to AdAge.com, we invite you to become a paid subscriber. Get the news, insights and tools that help you stay on top of what’s next.

Batter Up!

In exchange for a little demographic information, a few loyal
San Diego Padres fans will walk home with an authentic Louisville
Slugger autographed by their favorite player, supporters of the
NBA's San Antonio Spurs will sport exclusive team jackets, and Los
Angeles Galaxy soccer aficionados will get to watch their team
practice.

Just a little demographic information - that's the premise
behind fan-loyalty programs springing up at ballparks and stadiums
across the country. Offering perks only skybox patrons have had
access to before, frequent-fan appreciation programs let teams find
out exactly who is coming to their games.

It started in 1995, following the baseball players' strike the
year before. Fans were disenchanted and growing scarce. For the San
Diego Padres, a change in ownership made cultivating relationships
with long-time fans even more imperative. The success of the nearby
Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's "customer care" fan-loyalty card
system, designed by Phoenix-based Essential Data Control Systems
(EDCS), gave Padres executives their answer.

Working with EDCS, the Padres developed a baseball-friendly
format that would allow the team to learn more about its fan base,
while providing incentives for fans to come to more games. Fans who
sign up for the program supply basic information such as name,
address, age, telephone number, and e-mail address, as well as more
detailed (sometimes optional) data such as household income,
ethnicity, how many games they expect to attend that season, age of
children in the household, and what factors most influence their
decision to attend a game. In return, fans receive a card they can
swipe at an interactive kiosk during home games to receive points
and discount coupons. Accrued through the season, the points can be
redeemed for soda, tickets, autographed memorabilia, and workouts
with the team. Currently, there are 130,000 members of the
Compadres Club, about 25 percent of the average attendees.

"Demographic information was not the only reason this program
was implemented," says Brook Govan, marketing manager of the
Compadres Club. "We had a number of fans who were nameless and
faceless. We knew about our season ticket holders, but not about
those buying tickets on a game-to-game basis. We wanted to create
baseline data to judge how we're doing year to year based on our
marketing goals."

EDCS has instituted similar programs for the Arizona
Diamondbacks and the Anaheim Angels baseball teams, as well as the
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim hockey team, and the Carolina Mudcats, a
minor league baseball team.

AIM Technologies in Austin, Texas, has started loyalty programs
for the Oakland A's and St. Louis Cardinals baseball clubs, the San
Antonio Spurs, the L.A. Galaxy, the Austin Ice Bats hockey team,
and several minor league baseball clubs. For clubs with established
programs, about 12 percent to 40 percent of attendees are loyalty
card members. The Spurs have 28,000 members, who make about 13
percent of the crowd at an average game, and the Galaxy, the only
Major League Soccer team with such a program, reports that 4,000
fans have signed up (about 3 percent of the crowd). A number of
other baseball teams, including the Atlanta Braves and the Colorado
Rockies, are on deck to implement loyalty programs next season.

Some teams ask additional market research questions at the
kiosks, while others simply ask people to rate the level of service
they've received or the cleanliness of facilities in an effort to
make the fans' experience better.

The rationale behind the programs varies with the team. Some
simply wish to improve customer service, while others hope to
attract potential advertisers' dollars, says EDCS vice president of
business development Anne Vyenielo. For most, though, boosting
attendance is the number-one attraction.

The San Antonio Spurs used members' information to market "Pet
Adoption Day," held during the eight playoff games in May and June.
A dog adoption area was set up in the Alamodome, where fans could
go during quarter breaks and halftime. Besides promoting adoptions
at the card kiosks, the club launched a direct mail campaign to
pet-owning loyalty members, offering a reduced rate on tickets,
says Rebecca Caven, fan relations manager. The 3,150-piece campaign
was a hit, she notes, generating 25 to 35 orders per game - about a
1 percent response rate - and may be repeated next season.

For the L.A. Galaxy, whose fans are mostly walk-up customers,
finding out exactly who attended games - and how often - was a
large draw for starting a loyalty program. "After the fifth game,
we found 39 people who were not season ticket holders and came to
all five games, and about 80 people who were not season ticket
holders and came to four out of five," says Michael Arya, vice
president of ticket marketing. "So we can market to them, offering
season tickets and ticket packages, and let them know about
upcoming specials." The team plans to offer weekend packages to
people who purchase tickets only on weekends and inexpensive
packages to those from outside the Pasadena area to make the trip
more attractive, notes Arya.

The San Francisco Giants, now in the third season of its rewards
club program, last year discovered that 80 percent of its fans came
to 10 or fewer games, and half of those only came to one or two
games. Big problem, given that the smallest ticket package offered
by the ball club was for 17 games. A new ticket package was offered
last season, six games for the price of five, and 13,000 of these
"six packs" were sold, says Giants Rewards manager Felix Paulick.
This year only about 10,000 sold, says Paulick, but that's not bad
- many of last year's six-pack purchasers were more likely to buy
the 17-game plans this year.

Attracting new sponsors and adding value to existing contracts
are other tangible benefits for many teams. After AIM discovered
that about 60 percent of Oakland A's fans had Internet access, the
company inked a sponsorship deal this year for the team with
service provider Mindspring. The deal includes Mindspring
sponsorships of the St. Louis Cardinals and the L.A. Galaxy as wlle
says AIM president Tim Keyes.

Applying the concept to other industries, Vyenielo says, is a
"natural next step." Entertainment outlets, concerts, live theater,
and venues with multiple sports teams could all potentially benefit
from fan-appreciation programs, she says. She cites the Carolina
Mudcats program, which integrates ticket purchases on a combined
platform with the loyalty program, as the next step in streamlining
the customer experience.

Professional football teams have been reluctant to try such
programs, since they only host eight home games per season, Keyes
notes. However, colleges and universities are able to integrate
football and basketball attendance with less-attended sports such
as track and field and women's soccer. The University of Texas'
program, marketed to both students and alumni, rewards members'
demographic information with perks such as a trip with a team to an
away game or dinner cooked by one of the head coaches.

Within five years, Keyes predicts, as many as 75 percent of all
baseball, basketball, and hockey teams will be passing out cards to
fans who are willing to part with a little personal information.
"It helps your database," he says, "and it's fun and interactive
for the fans."

Oakland A's fan Bruce Bream doesn't need the hard sell. Thanks
to his perfect attendance at last year's home games, he was entered
into a raffle and won an all-expenses-paid, first-class trip to the
World Series. Who's headed to the Series this year? For those
die-hard A's fans, it's still up for grabs.